SAN FRANCISCO -- Seven Sonoma State hitters collected RBI's to lead the Seawolves to an 11-6 victory in the series opener against San Francisco State Friday at Maloney Field.
The win by the Seawolves improves their CCAA record to 15-18 and 21-21 overall, giving head coach
John Goelz his 999th coaching victory in the process.
The Gators fall to 15-18 in conference and 16-24 overall.
Sonoma State was down 1-0 heading to the fourth inning when the offense asserted itself in a big inning. After
Daniel Caresio walked and
Jourdan Weiks doubled to advance Caresio to third,
Alex Crosby singled to bring home both runners and put the Seawolves in front 2-1. A few batters later,
Adam Manzer would single to bring home Crosby from third to give the Seawolves a 3-1 lead. The final run of the big fourth would come on a
Spencer Neve groundout that scored
Devin Alexander.
The Seawolves would shut down the Gators in the bottom of the fourth, before scoring two more runs in the fifth inning on a Crosby triple that scored Weiks and an Alexander single that scored Crosby to make it 6-1. The Gators got three of their own to reduce the lead to 6-4, but that's as close as they would get. Sonoma State would add two in the sixth, two in the seventh and one in the ninth to score 11 runs on 16 hits.
Neve had a great day, going 4 for 4 with three RBI's. Crosby matched Neve's RBI total with three and went 2 for 4. Alexander and Cameron Meriwether both had two hits and RBI's on the day.
Tyler Sanders pitched 4 1/3 innings to pick up his second win (2-2) of the season and allowed two earned runs on four hits and struck out three.
Haydon Turpin got the start and went 4 2/3 innings and allowed an earned run on four hits and struck out two.
Peter Reyes started and got the loss for the Gators going five innings and allowing six earned runs on seven hits. Mark Lindsay went 2 for 3 with two RBI's to lead the Gator offensive attack.
Sonoma State and San Francisco State resume their four game series Saturday at Seawolf Diamond with a doubleheader beginning at 11:00 A.M. The second game will begin approximately 30 minutes after the completion of the first game.
NOTE: Head coach
John Goelz, who is in his 30th year at the helm of a program that he has shaped into a national powerhouse during his time at Sonoma State, is just one win away from career coaching victory number 1,000. He is on track to become only the 16th Division II head coach in history to eclipse the 1,000-win milestone, and only the fifth active coach to do so. In fact, two other Division II head coaches earned their 1,000th career coaching win this season – Ashland's John Schaly and Mount Olive's Carl Lancaster.
